The Next Universe Review Thread!! (SPOILERS APLENTY!!)

[SiHart]

Also, "I'm just knitting! I mean using the time scoop! I mean ironing!"

I may have overplayed that line...

Hope you're all loking forward to pt 3 on Sunday afternoon!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I thought it was perfectly played.

One day there will be an explanation as to how come Vera and Scott were reunited for this play and what exactly happened to Kestero ...but that day is not yet (unless part 3 manages to be even more convoluted than I'm already expecting!)

[SiHart]

Somethings you're not meant to know, they just happen.

[Nyder]

Just listened to the pineappley Part 2. Can't wait for Part 3 in two hours. Razzle On! :-)

[Si Hunt]

We just listened to it again too!

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Haven't had time today but I did parts 1 & 2 again last night and loved them

[SiHart]

Just finished my relisten here.

[SiHart]

Well, it's difficult to be objective about this all.

When we started planning it all, all those years ago, the first thought was that this would be the end. If it was the final end of the PS Audios, well, this would be a great way to go out. It's a celebration of all we've done, where we've been, but looking forward too I hope.

The story has been something of a compromise- it's changed so much since we started to plan it. New scenes have been written on the hoof, depending on the availability of actors, Nick was written out (and so was the song!) bit somehow, thanks mostly to some wonderful work on the part of Si Hunt, we've got through it. Well done Si.

It's been wonderful to look back over where we've been. Nice to hear from old favourites and get a glimpse of the future.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Just to say I thought Part 3 was wonderful. Lots of great stuff worked in and yet my fears that it might be an overambitious story weren't realised. There was a lot of simple but very effective ideas worked together to make a cohesive dramatic and poignant final story.
A well deserved finale for the pairing of Paul Monk's Doctor and Rob and Ed. Great to have Nick back too for one last hurrah (albeit only briefly and not really him).

[Si Hunt]

Funnily enough, it was never planned that we would in any way hoodwink the listener with Nick's "return". He was actually in the whole story when it was written (He was originally injured by Santa's machine gun, not Rob) but then we needed to write Nick out, so he was removed. The Tomb scene is all that remains of his original part. And there is no new Tudor footage in this episode, it's all old clips.

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm still on too much of a high to give a really cogent opinion on the episode - but I will just say that I really like how the story started off as an apparently trivial matter of some soap fanatics wanting to get even with the Doctor, but has gradually progressed to encompass two Doctors, the tomb of Rassilon, and the very existence of the entire universe. To also include just about every character and story from the entire PS range in the mix, without it appearing to be sledgehammered in, and still have time for some really genuine laughs & thrills & spills (not to mention a sequence of two characters actually discussing the continuity - brilliant!) has been just superb, and I take my hat* off to everyone involved - but I think it's entirely appropriate to particularly mention messrs Hunt & Hart for the writing, Si Hunt again for the superbly professional production, and Paul Monk for being... well, for being quite simply The Doctor**. Well done guys, well done indeed!





*Do let me know if you want to buy a hat.
**Or rather, as per the credits, 'Doctor Who'. Controversial!!

[Si Hunt]

Ha, he was credited as "Doctor Who" in the CD sleeve of "Echoes of the Protii" so there!

Si.

[SiHart]

We used to have this battle on the scripts all the time- some writers would bill him as Doctor Who, some as The Doctor...

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Funnily enough, it was never planned that we would in any way hoodwink the listener with Nick's "return". He was actually in the whole story when it was written (He was originally injured by Santa's machine gun, not Rob) but then we needed to write Nick out, so he was removed. The Tomb scene is all that remains of his original part. And there is no new Tudor footage in this episode, it's all old clips.

Si.

Just to continue the Five Doctor's references that quote does remind me of "The fourth Doctor was originally to have gone to Gallifrey but we had to change it when Tom Baker declined to be in it" (or words to that effect)!

Of course a certain witty little ditty was also removed

[SiHart]

I thought the regeneration was superbly done. Paul played his last scene perfectly and made it strangely moving. It's odd- I wasn't there when Si and Paul recorded that and having been involved in writing the story I knew it was coming, but there was still that pang you get every time when you know a Doctor is about to go that you don't want them to leave. I wasn't expecting that.

I'm so pleased everyone enjoyed it. It was a really fitting swansong for our Doctor.

But it isn't the end. There are new adventures to come...

[Antony Cox]

That was such a great story!

A whole load of fun but it got more and more dramatic towards the finale, with some GREAT emotional performances. The use of music was superb, and I loved the fact that the whole 5th Doctor regeneration familiarity had exactly the opposite effect to what you would think - it wasn't a cop out and reliance on an old format, it was in fact a very clever and well thought-out way of making the listener realise exactly what was going to happen, as had to happen in audio format.

Well done to everyone involved and a great farewell to a much-loved Doctor!

[brandynigma]

What can I say? It was a magnificent finale, not only to the season (in which all stories have dealt with themes of separation and departure), but quite literally to the whole PSA Universe. I was particularly impressed with how (as in Asylum, Time Bees and Massanicassa), this story did not pull its punches in bad things happening to both regular and recurring characters.

As I see it, the list seems to stand at

Doctor Who
Rob McCow
Scott
The Master
June River

as characters who don't seem to survive the ending.

In so many ways, Season 4 has been the strongest of PSAs yet. Well done to everyone involved, and Si Hunt, Si Hart, Paul, Steve and Martin (and Dave!).

[SiHart]

I just wanted to mention how great Jason was as The Master. He's very chilling at times, and the conversation with the Doctor(s) was really well played. He's been quite a fascinating incarnation so it was a great pity that he fell down the Time Well with Rob, as I'd have loved to have heard more from him.

[Si Hunt]

The Time Well is a gateway to the Next Universe, rather than a big furnace or something. The TARDIS fell down it, and seemed to survive. In a way, surely falling down the Time Well (after the TARDIS) makes it MORE likely that the Master will pop up to face the Doctor again?

That said, the chances of surviving the Time Well unprotected, without a Kilraxxian Vortex Protection Suit, are about fourteen million to one.

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Personally I'm hoping the next universe will bring new enemies for the new Doctor to fight but I guess we shall have to wait and see.

[SiHart]

Oh there's all sorts of threats and battles to come in the next universe...

[Dirk Gently]

First off I'd like to thank Si Hunt & Si Hart for the story, and Messers Hunt, Hart & Alexander for the pre/post production work.

A lot goes in to recording these both at the writing & recording stage. So thanks gents, thanks for everything.


I loved this story, it really was a celebration of all things P.S audio. The ep 1 cliff-hanger did have me a little baffled for a while, but I also didn't put a great deal of thought in to who it might be. I just let it all be explained in part 2 & it was.

To be honest I thought this was really well put together. It made sense, it was clear what was going on & easy to follow (if you've been paying attention to the other audios. )

The Doctor was in fine form, both of him, and Rob & Ed were excellent.
Rob talking to his own sub-conscious was weird & completely funny.
Ant's Toymaker was spot on, Jason's Master was chilling, Vera was unusually sane, & to be honest it's about time Si Hunt had a major role in one of these stories.

The Clear Waters "nutters" being used was well conceived & well dealt with.
But that may not be the last we'll hear of them or indeed anyone who has 'died' in this story. We've moved to another universe, who's to say that there isn't another Doctor with another Master waiting there to be discovered? If the Next Universe has taught me anything it's this, anything is possible. Although I do hope Endlemann is still dead, that accent is a nightmare.

I'm sure that the new Doctor will be as distinctive & brilliant as the last.


Oh, and I just have to say that the funniest line for me in this play (for some reason) was when Rob said "You're snapping my KitKat!"

[brandynigma]

Oh, and I just have to say that the funniest line for me in this play (for some reason) was when Rob said "You're snapping my KitKat!"

My favourite was another Rob line: "Don't mind me... down here... on the floor..."

One of my lines came out (unintentionally) rather amusing to my ear. When Orvos asks, "Are you trying to contact me across time and space?", he sounds like the Doctor's call has just caught him in the middle of watching something on TV he's been dying to see...

[Junkyard]

Well I finally got round to listening to ‘The Next Universe’ and a fitting end to Mr Monks’ tenure as the Doctor. A great plot with lots of twists and turns, two versions of the same Doctor (what happened to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect, or doesn’t it apply to Time Lords?), two companions (Hooray for Ed, hooray for Rob) and more villains than you can shake a sonic screwdriver at!
Favourite lines:- Rob (dying); Enjoy your shoes.... (My goodness, the lad’s in a bad way).
Sister Mary; Bugger! (ancient Sisterhood word).
As to what happens next, a whole new universe, anything could happen. 8/10

[SiHart]

Really glad you enjoyed it!